ThinkProgress reported last week that corporate lobbyists are helping to orchestrate the anti-Obama tea party protests. These lobbying-run front groups, along with promotion help from Fox News, are organizing the tea parties by calling right-wing activists and asking them to organize. They are also coordinating conference calls among activists, writing press releases, providing sign ideas, building websites supporting the protests, and distributing talking points so that the protesters can stay on message.

Today, FreedomWork’s Adam Brandon responded to the criticism that its efforts to organize these anti-Obama protests are ‘astroturf,’ saying that the organization’s work in coordinating and planning the events would be akin to “MoveOn’s model.” However, MoveOn is not run by corporate lobbyists and is funded by actual grassroots activists. On the other hand, the leader of FreedomWorks, Dick Armey, who is ranked as one of DC’s top “hired guns,” is a corporate lobbyist with a history of directing FreedomWorks to support the goals of his lobbying clients. For example:

– Armey’s FreedomWorks is actively organizing against health care reform. Indeed, Armey’s lobbying firm represents pharmaceutical companies, such as Bristol-Myers Squibb, that oppose comparative effectiveness research in the health reform plan because such a program may cut into revenue for branded drugs.

– Armey’s lobbying firm represents the trade group for the life insurance industry. Indeed, FreedomWorks mobilizes its members for deregulated life insurance reform.

– Currently, FreedomWorks is focusing their energy activism on supporting the status quo reliance on fossil fuels. In addition to working for various domestic oil companies with a vested interest in opposing change, Armey’s lobbying firm represents Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the UAE, on energy related issues such as maintaining the U.S.-UAE relationship where “U.S companies have played major roles in the development of UAE energy resources, which represent about 10 percent of global oil reserves.”

– In 2006, Armey’s lobbying firm represented the Senado de Republica (Mexican Senate) on “enhancing U.S.-Mexico relations,” and specifically on immigration policy. Curiously, during the same period, Armey’s Freedom Works stood out as one of the few right wing organizations to boldly support comprehensive immigration reform.

Last year, the Wall Street Journal exposed FreedomWorks for building “amateur-looking” websites to promote the lobbying interests of Armey.

FreedomWorks represents a top-down, corporate-friendly approach that has been the norm for conservative organizations for years. As Obama prepares to push to close corporate tax loopholes, reform health care, and transition to a clean energy economy, we can expect more corporate lobbyists to create astroturf protests to oppose change.

Today, the Department of Homeland Security released a report on the growing influence of radical right-wing extremists. On Fox News this afternoon, guest host David Asman willingly tied the Fox-promoted, lobbyist-funded, “grassroots” tea party movement to such right-wing radicals, and suggested that the Obama administration might send “spies” to the tea parties to track extremists:

I’m looking at the report and it says, among other things, that the federal government is going to begin gathering information on right-wing extremist activity in the United States. Does that mean they’re going to be sending spies to these tea parties?

Asman continued to group conservatives with radical extremists later in the segment, asking whether the DHS report was just “an effort to shut up their critics.” Watch it:

Similarly, Michelle Malkin today referred to the report as the “Obama DHS hit job on conservatives.” TNR’s Jonathan Chait wondered why conservatives seem so happy to lump themselves with the “murderous lunatics” the report targets. “I kind of figured conservatives would try to define potential domestic terrorists as the fringe right,” Chait writes. “But there’s Michelle Malkin calling potential terrorists ‘conservatives.’”

The right wing and Fox News are trying to paint tomorrow’s tea party protests as an organic uprising, when they are in fact being spearheaded by high-powered business interests. Now, organizers are doling out generous financial incentives to publicize the tea parties. In a Facebook message today, Erik Telford of Americans For Prosperity told supporters, “I wanted to make you aware of an opportunity. Americans for Prosperity Foundation and Heritage Foundation have teamed up to launch the Stop Spending Our Future project, which offers four contests and $5,000 in prizes“:

1) Spread the Word| Capture the stories of five people at one of the Taxpayer Tea Parties happening all over the nation on Tax Day, April 15. The person that captures the best testimonial will receive $1,000.

2) Make a Video| What’s your biggest frustration about the government’s appetite for more spending in the midst of the tough economic climate? The top 5 submissions will each receive a prize in the amount of $500.

3) Write a Letter | Explain how you feel about the debt via a letter that your child, grandchild, or great-grandchild will open 30 years from now? The top 5 submissions will each receive a prize in the amount of $250.

4) Give It a Name| Convey the threat of government over-spending and/or excessive debt using 10 words or less. The single best idea-as voted on by visitors to this website-will receive $250 and be the basis for a new video.

“Stop Spending Our Future” has also launched a promotional video using young children decrying the “Troubled Assets Relief Programs” and other “bailouts.”

Tomorrow, conservatives around the country will be holding Tax Day tea parties. Although “tea” technically stands for “taxed enough already,” Fox News’s Glenn Beck — one of the main promoters of the event — has insisted they’re about spending, not taxes. Previous tea parties have attracted protesters who called for impeaching Obama while slurring the President’s name as “Obama Bin Lyin.”

Nevertheless, tea party organizers continue to insist that tomorrow’s events will be bipartisan. (Even though so far, no Democratic elected official has agreed to participate, compared to at least 38 GOP lawmakers.) However, a group of veterans in Kansas isn’t buying the spin, as Kansas Jackass points out.

Tomorrow, tea baggers in Pittsburg, KS, plan to hold their protest at the Pittsburg State University Veterans Memorial Amphitheater. Speaking at that event will be Rep. Lynne Jenkins (R-KS). Veterans are expressing concerns at having a partisan event on this “hallowed ground“:

– “It’s everybody’s right to have a protest, but our complaint is that it’s at the Veterans Memorial. Most people think of the Veterans Memorial as a sacred place. It’s a place to reflect, to remember why we’re here today and the people who have sacrificed for that.” [Bob Torbett, director of the American Legion Riders and a member of the Kansas Patriot Guard]

– “I’m not so sure the Veterans Memorial is the appropriate place for a tax protest.” [Charles Heath, Commander of American Legion Post 64]

– “This is something that really upset me. The Veterans Memorial, as far as I’m concerned, is hallowed ground. To have a partisan, political ‘tea party’ there really offends my sensibilities.” [Bob Torbett, veteran of the Korean War]

When asked for comment, Jenkins’s spokesperson said that while the congresswoman has the “utmost respect” for veterans, “What’s going on in Washington now, with spending and taxes, affects everyone – from veterans to small businesses and single moms and working families. The congresswoman feels it’s important to talk about these issues.”

John Minton, head of the Crawford County Republican Party, defended the tea baggers, saying that they were probably having their protest at the amphitheater because it was one of the few places in the country that “could accommodate a large crowd.”